I’ve got Revel Salon 2 speakers (22k/pair retail). It’s generally accepted those are one of the best speakers money can buy. My search for cables ended when i looked inside of those. The cables between external connectors and crossover are about 18ga, not even sure they are pure copper. And those are big speakers, i think there may be 3ft of cables inside. On top of that, there are pretty lousy connectors on the crossover board and kind of a small switch regulating hi-freq response.
Sorry to say, but the Merlin is anything but this thing you describe. the wiring and connectors are on another level. Really sorry to hear that this is what you got for 22k...
I addition, it is true the signal is as good as the weakest line, however, the more weak links you add, the more degradation you get. So its accumulative, not binary.
So i think your Philosophy is void, im afraid.
However i DID order that lousy wire you suggested, just to see and put an end to this once and for all(at least for myself...)